JustOneMinute

Shorter Quarantines

The CDC had modified their COVID quarantine recommendations:

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.

The decision also was driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant.

Some of this reflects staffuing issues - can't keep essetial workers at home for too long.

 

 

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas all! I just want to share my Christmas Earworm: the late, great Jim Croce's "I Got A Name", specifically

"Like the pine trees linin' the windin' road
I've got a name, I've got a name..."

Pine tress typically have names? Who names their pine trees? And what is the name of the one in my living room - Jeweled? What is Croce's real name - homo sapiens?

So many questions. Whatev.

And please remember the Holiday message during this OMGicron season - think positive and test negative! 

Omicron Studies Arrive

Good-ish news from South Africa, Scotland and the Imperial College all suggest that Omicron cases will be more widespread but milder than Delta.

This means Omicron may still swamp our hospitals. If, for example, we have three times as many cases but only half as many end up in the hospital, well, that is still more people filling hospitals.

The studies attempt to adjust for vaccination status and protection induced by prior infection. The 'prior infection' estimate in South Africa is so uncertain (and the country so different from the US) that their conclusion may not mean much here.

The omicron Covid variant is less likely to result in hospitalization than earlier strains and appears to be milder in comparison, according to early data released this week.

Data from South Africa, England and Scotland indicate that people infected with omicron are significantly less likely to be admitted to hospital than if they contract other strains, and the latter study further emphasized the importance of getting a booster shot .

The Imperial College study is their Report 50. It moves past their recent Report 49, which found no evidence that Omicron was milder than Delta.

OMGicron!

OK, we knew it was spreading but c'mon, man:

Omicron now the dominant U.S. Covid strain at 73% of cases, CDC data shows

Omicron is so Twenty Twenty-New; Delta is so Twenty Twenty-Done.

The rapidly spreading omicron variant is now the dominant Covid strain in the U.S., representing 73% of sequenced cases, according to data published Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Omicron has displaced the previously dominant delta variant, which the CDC says is now an estimated 26.6% of sequenced cases for the week ending December 18. Just one week earlier, delta made up 87% of cases to omicron’s 12.6%, the data shows.

The CDC also has cool graphics showing Omicron's emergence over time and current geographic spread.

 

I want to dig up their depiction of The Ascent of Delta last summer.

Here is the current Omicron spread:

 

And let's close with some thoughts from Clint Eastwood, Frontier Doctor, when asked about how transmissible Omicron is.

I CAN QUIT ANYTIME: The vaccine-hesitant Gene Hackman bemoans his choices.

Pre-Christmas Cheer

Omicron is here. NO, its not the Evil Organization in the latest Bond film. Its the COVID variant setting case records in several coutries, with others soon to follow. (New York City records are subject to the caveat that testing was spotty during their crushing wave in spring 2020.) Clint Eastwood, Frontier Doctor assessed the outlook.

Fortunately, 'cases' is not a great metric here - Omicron has a flair for infecting those even with some COVID immunity due to vaccines or past infection. That generally results in less severe cases. That also means that in order to assess whether omicron is less dangerous than delta researchers need to track vaccine and past infection status. Since Omicron is giving mild cases to vaccinated/formerly infected people who might have fought off a Delta exposure, mild cases may be over-represented in the Omicron mix.

Well. Hospitals in the Midwest and Northeast were already straining. Want some sound medical advice? Don't be in a car accident in January. Or have a heart attack.

More sound advice? DO get vaccinated or boosted. It might help lighten the burden on our health system. And for we old-timers, Dr. Eastood had other timeless advice - dying is no way to make a living. Nor is it a way to Own The Libs. Getting vaccinated is good advice even if it comes from Biden. Or Trump.

Real Men of Genius

Per the NY Times, Biden's advisers want him to continue talking up our robust economy, even though polls show lots of people aren't feeling it.

Out-of-touch and confused - yeah, that's the ticket!

How’s the Economy? Biden Sees a Boom. Many Americans Don’t.

The president has struggled to sell strong growth and job gains to a public that appears more concerned about rising prices — and remains anxious about Covid.

By Jim Tankersly

WASHINGTON — President Biden and his top aides are struggling to bridge the gap between the economy they want to celebrate and the one that has left many Americans anxious and frustrated, as a record-setting recovery collides with prolonged inflation and an ongoing pandemic that has left consumers deeply pessimistic.

The challenge begins with a disbelief of sorts among Mr. Biden’s economic advisers. They insist the job market, with a 4.2 percent unemployment rate, has never been better, delivering wage gains for lower-paid workers that Mr. Biden believes will help lift more people into the middle class. They say those benefits will endure for years, even once inflation, which last -month accelerated at its fastest pace in 40 years, cools down.

The struggle is also entwined with Mr. Biden’s fight against Covid. Administration officials say that the anxiety voters are expressing to pollsters is less about the economy and the president’s handling of it and more an expression of pent-up frustration with a pandemic that has persisted for nearly two years.

White House officials say they have no plans to shift Mr. Biden’s messaging on economic issues, even as poll after poll shows his approval ratings in decline and voter worry over inflation swamping all other views of the economy. Their strategy remains focused on stressing the administration’s work to spread vaccinations and end the pandemic without further lockdowns, cheering the nation’s progress in economic growth and promising that Mr. Biden’s policies will bring down prices for oil, food and consumer goods.

Eventually reality will catch up to one side or the other.

Championship Saturday!

I'm rooting for Alabama Out and Michigan In. Seeing Cincy in the playoffs would be fine, too.

Hails And Fails

All Hail: The blazing-like-a-Tesla Biden jobs recovery! 

Total Fail: Effin' Chris Cuomo.

All Hail: Omicron optimism backed by data so sketchy a stripper would blush.

Ongoing Fail: Effin' Clinton Shakedown Foundation.